So far, here are the results to my informal poll on the possibility of a 5th party member:
- Some sort of rogue, possibly a gnome or a kobold
An arcane caster or some other kind of arcane class, like artificer, mage or sorceror
A psionic character of some sort
A divine character, such as a cleric or paladin
Something non-standard, like a monster as a PC (kind of do already with Vorpal)
A ranger (my class of choice when playing)
Still mulling this over and it may not happen right away, but the overall message seems to be: we need a caster of some sort, as Jaine's been having to do double and triple duty as mage, thief, and bard. Any other suggestions? Leave a comment below!
See you Friday!
~Rob
one of my friends had an idea that clerics/divine casters would get spells from their charisma, after all, they have to persuade the deity that they should get the spells, while sorcerers would have to be wise as they are trying to manipulate magic without training. maybe a cleric or a sorcerer using that logic with houserules…
Beware the power of…
Summon Were-Badger!
First time posting but I really enjoy your web comic. As for a 5th group member I would have to say an absent minded gnome wizard would be a good addition, with how eccentric and curious gnomes are in general it would be easy to add him to the story by just having him run into the current group and decide to follow them just because of how odd the group make-up is at this point. A character motivated by greed would be an interesting addition as well, for the most part Jaine, Ch’p, and Becky all seem motivated by good intentions, where as Dhur seems interested in smashing things and finding where his next beer is coming from. A Character only interested in lining their own pockets could add to the difficulties the group would face. I know in my D&D experience my groups always got in more trouble when we had someone decide they could take things without the rest of the group knowing.
How about some Monster with OCD or manic/depressive, who wants to become a PC, but constantly changes it’s mind on what Class to become.
Alternatively, a transvestite golem would be cool too…
Hm. The Monster angle suddenly brought to mind Goris from the Fallout series, the Intelligent Deathclaw.
I going to have to go with a female gnome rogue/geomancer. She has a long going affair with gems, as in kleptomania of gem like objects. Her arch-rival(enemy) is a kleptomaniac mini-dragon, who with she has stolen from and been stolen by gems over the years. One specific gem has been had possession pass back and forth that a joint gnome/mini-dragon court has declared it as being in joint custody.
I think a greed driven rogue would be a good 5th character for the group.
I like the idea of a Psion. They are severely underutilized.
A rogue wizard that mostly uses magic to add some dazzle to his sword play. He prefers his enchanted silk shirts for armor instead of more traditional robes. With a soft spot for ladies in distress and their money. Bit of a Robin Hood prankster that can be very formidable when he gets serious, which he seldom is.
Most of the classes I would suggest have already been suggested, not to shoot down other people ideas.
But after Dhur and Jaine’s last encounter with a rogue, I think they’d be a bit leery about having one in the party.
I’d probably go with Paladin, mostly for the comic factor, a stereotypical paladin would probably stick out in this group like a sore thumb.
Either he would be continually out of his depth dealing with the parties eccentricities, or he’d be driving the rest of the party nuts with his snooty and condescending behavior. Either way it would probably be funny.
Still a Cleric would probably work as well, or maybe a Druid. Have someone in the party who can heal without using pressure points and/or has a better direction sense than Dhur.
As fond as I am of 3.5, I am goung to have to put myself in the 4th Ed mindset here… hmm…
Ok, How about a Goblin Druid, whos strange way amongst his kind (Both druidkind and goblinkind- Eating with forks and bathing, Failure to Bathe regularilyy enough for druids, ect) made him/her an outcast. He met up wkth an Injured Eagle, and was going to put it out of its misery when he had an epiphany of sorts- why kill and eat it when he could use it to hunt food.?!. Over the period of a few weeks, he healed it up to use as a familiar, and ghey start wandering together, doing a few hundred quests, despite the mockery of his height and bad dress sense.
i would vote for a female human sorceress,with the usual so called outfits that go with the usual thing(stripperiffic,ugh).but heres the kick she dresses that way because thats how her teachers dressed and was taught all sorceress’s dress that way but in reality she has the morals of innocent nun.all innocent and naive to the seamier parts of life.but if she does have some knowledge of it its a scientific almost book knowledge of it,all proper and almost Victorian in scope.
Honestly, I don’t believe the class and race of the fifth member is really important. Any caster with a ranged back up weapon will do. Personality and interaction with the rest of the party is what matters.
How about an evil character? Not a heroic comedic sociopath or Snidely Whiplash but someone whose goals run along the same line as the rest of the group. More than willing to be a team player but doing horrific things behind their backs that actually help the group, likes the group, is hopefully liked by them until they find out what he/she has been doing. A member that’ll cause major moral problems down the road.
Or you may be better off not listening to me…
Depending on how much you want them contributing to combat, a gnomish apprentice wizard could be fun, particularly an illusionist/summoner type. I say apprentice because illusion and summoning can be loads of fun when they go wrong. Turn the party invisible and forget how to turn them back…accidentally polymorph Vorpal into a bunny rabbit (cue Python jokes), summon a badger atop Dhur’s head instead of behind the enemy…. Definitely give him a nice repeating crossbow for a backup weapon. Then let him try to train Vorpal as a war dog mount.
My only question is how are you going to deal with the “5th Wheel” issue?
You have a two couples dynamic going
Jaine – Dhor (they may not be “a couple”, but there seems to be a back’n’forth between them.)
Ch’p – Becky
How about a “men-in-tights” type ranger… lots of room there for story angles….
Not a good 5th character, but imagine an intelligent weapon that “joins,” the party, then can’t decide who to choose as a wielder. It can change form at will, so it keeps going from Axe to Bow to Staff, and then begging a PC to wield it.